The small, secreted protein Angiogenin (“ANG”) is a potent inducer of angiogenesis that has been implicated in the establishment, growth and metastasis of various tumors. Inhibition of ANG activity is therefore an attractive therapeutic strategy for the treatment of cancer and other angiogenesis-related diseases, such as wet age-related macular degeneration (“AMD”). However, despite ANG's important role in both blood vessel formation and cancer, the receptors that bind to angiogenin ANG to mediate its angiogenic and tumor promoting activity remain unknown. Identification and characterization of ANG receptors would provide a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer and the inhibition of ANG-mediated angiogenesis.
Thus, there is a great need for the identification and characterization of ANG receptors in order to develop novel compositions and methods for the inhibition of ANG activity, the prevention of angiogenesis and the treatment of cancer.